Introduction

The Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care initiative (or national childcare program) was first introduced in 2021, promising improved access to and affordability of child care across the country. The key goals included a focus on reducing service fees over time to an average of $10 per day by 2026, increased funding to support the early learning and child-care workforce, expanding child-care spaces in the not-for-profit and public sectors, and enhancing the quality of child care while preserving inclusion and affordability.

Three years later, while there has been some progress towards these goals, there continue to be disparities across provinces and territories. It is clear much more needs to be done to build and maintain a child-care system that works for every child, the childcare workforce, and parents and guardians. An equitable system should work to reduce health disparities for everyone involved and be accessible and affordable to all those who need it, regardless of their social determinants of health, particularly income, disability and nonstandard work. This brief includes a short background on the development and implementation of the national program, with a focus on Ontario, and analyzes progress on child care through a health equity lens on four pillars that are crucial to progress: 1) conditions for child-care workers, 2) quantity, 3) quality, and 4) cost.